© 2019 Indian Dermatology Online Journal | Published by Wolters Kluwer Medknow A 28‐year‐old lady (ENT resident) presented with asymptomatic brown patch on the left palm of 1‐week duration. She denied history of contact with chemicals/plants, intake of drugs, or local application of mehendi (plant paste used for beautification of hands). She was immunocompetent and not a diabetic. Examination of the left palm revealed two linear hyperpigmented patches, one in the middle of the palm and the other occupying the distal palmar crease [Figure 1]. Scaling was minimal. Other areas including body folds were not involved. Teeth were normal. Wood's lamp examination of the left palm showed coral red fluorescence corresponding to the hyperpigmented patches and extending on to the palmar aspect of the index finger [Figure 2]. There was no fluorescence of teeth and urine on Wood's lamp examination. Scraping from the patch did not reveal any bacteria or fungal elements. Serology for venereal disease research laboratory test and human immune deficiency virus was nonreactive. She was diagnosed as erythrasma and was given a week course of erythromycin which cleared the patches [Figure 3]. The disappearance of pigmented patches following a course of erythromycin and the absence of coral red fluorescence on Wood's lamp examination post‐treatment substantiate the diagnosis of erythrasma [Figure 4].


The machine consists of dough-making device, drawing device, dropping device and deep-frying device, and the leavened dough is made into two strips which are guided by a group of rollers and conveyed downward by a chopping board, both sides of the chopping board have a set of cutting knifes to cut the leavened dough and press and stick the dough. Both ends of the cut dough are seized by clips of the drawing device, two clips separatue from each other gradually and rotate slowly at the same time, the drop device presses down the twisted dough sticks at the end of the board, then the sticks are sent into an oil pot of the deep-frying device and deep-fried, and after collecting by a collecting belt and trickle-drying, deep-fried twisted dough sticks are obtained.


Introduction: ICT is a global phenomenon. With its use, Nursing makes viable actions of prevention and care of skin lesions related to dependence. These informative technological tools, allow to empower the patient, his caregiver and the health team. Objective: To implementation of a weblog for the prevention, basic and advanced care of people with skin lesions. The tool will provide information based on the best scientific evidence available. Results: Positioning of the Pielarte UN weblog as a care information tool on the Wordpress platform, through relevant dissemination in different academic events. Conclusions: ICT is a useful strategy to complement Nursing interventions in the field of information to patients, caregivers and professionals in order to prevent skin lesions related to care and dependence.


Nowadays, the sustainability has become a driver for effectiveness in essentially all manufacturing sectors. Furthermore, this concept has become crucial to research and business practice since of prompt depletion of disquiets over affluence inequality and natural resources and corporate social responsibility. As the interest in sustainable development grows, the cement industry essential be able to support sustainable development, environmentally responsibility, balancing economic prosperity, social equity. Cement is a vital construction material and a strategic commodity in the construction sector. Nevertheless, the cement industries are facing challenges to implement sustainable manufacturing into their products and processes. This paper is seeks to address and examine the barriers and challenge toward the sustainable manufacturing supposed to be suitable to the cement industry from the perspectives of the construction stakeholders. Accordingly, study data was collected through a semi structure questionnaire survey of randomly selected professionals in cement factory in Kuwait. The output results demonstration that crucial barriers towards practices of sustainable cement factory for instance shortage of local environmental regulations, Inadequate regulation support, political decision makers, and clients , lack of strategy to promote sustainable construction, and lack of environmental awareness by the industry.


Various Si–Fe–Al ternary alloys were prepared with the same amount of Si by the melt spinning technique. The feasibility of the capacity prediction approach based on the estimation of the active amount of Si using the phase diagram was practically examined and reported. These predictions were verified by the electrochemical test of fabricated coin cells and other characterization methods. The capacity prediction approach using the phase diagram might be a fundamental and efficient method to accelerate the practical application of Si-based alloys as the anode material for Li-ion batteries. The details on the prediction procedure were discussed.


Step and impulse waveforms are serving an increasingly important role in modern microwave technology. Historically, RADAR has been the most important application for abruptly changing waveforms. An important new application is time-domain reflectometry; where abrupt base-band waveforms are used to resolve transmission line discontinuities. Baseband waveforms (those whose spectrum begins essentially at zero frequency) are particularly useful for observing discontinuities in characteristic impedance. When frequency sensitive discontinuities are observed, however, the resolution will depend on the amount of high-frequency energy available in the waveform.


A nation's outlook usually has a great impact on its growth.At the new historical stage,our view of scientific development is a changed one,compared to the undeveloped science in the past.What's more,scientific development is no longer endless political campaigns featured by revolution and production,but long-term reform and opening-up;nor is it a impractical great leap forward,but a sustainable development which corresponds with the laws of development of human society,and it is an all round and harmonious outlook instead of prior growth of producer goods.


Objective: To evaluate the clinical significance of 99Tcm-MDP accumulation in non-osseous tissue. Materials and Methods: 6602 99Tcm-MDP bone scans were reviewed and 99Tcm-MDP accumulations in non-osseous tissue were distinguished. Results: 99Tcm-MDP accumulations were detected in 497 bone scans. Diffuse accumulations were detected in limbs, chest and abdomen(malignant pleural effusion, 146, malignant seroperitoneum, 44, obstruction in circumfluence of vein or lymph, 120, hyperparathyroidism, 3, metastatic tumor in liver, 20). Regional accumulations were detected in various tumors of defferent locations(107 cases, 1 was benign and the others were malignant), myocarditis(1), infarct in brain(1), rhabdomyositis(1), regional soft tissue after bone fracture(16) and recent operation(18), scar in skin(7) and stoma caused by operation(13). In all the lesions above, benign lesions were 33% while malignant lesions 67%. Conclusion: To distinguish the 99Tcm-MDP accumulation in non-osseous tissue is helpful to the analysis of bone scan and can offer some valuable information.


Abstract Noturus munitus (Frecklebelly Madtom), is a diminutive catfish restricted to large rivers in the Mobile Basin and Pearl River drainages in the southeastern United States. We conducted surveys of 13 major tributaries of the Alabama, Cahaba, and Tombigbee river systems in the Mobile Basin to determine use of tributaries by N. munitus. Our surveys found only one specimen in Oakmulgee Creek, a large tributary to the Cahaba River and one of the few rivers in which stable populations of N. munitus remain. We combine results from our recent survey with a review of the literature and museum records for N. munitus throughout its range to present a consolidated status report. Our review indicates that N. munitus is currently greatly reduced from its former range, and is in decline in most of the drainages it still inhabits. We recommend federal protection for the species under the Endangered Species Act. We also provide suggestions for future research and management actions for the species.


The probability theory significance of fuzzy systems based on pointwise optimization fuzzy inference is revealed,several typical probability distributions,such as Mamdani distribution,Larsen distribution,Zadeh distribution,Lukasiewicz distribution and Goguen distribution,are given separately,it is pointed that under probability significance,the fuzzy systems corresponding to the above distributions are equivalent to the fuzzy systems based on CRI algorithm respectively.


As two effective approaches to increase the visible light-absorption capacities of photocatalysts, ion doping and metallic nanoparticles loading are compared in this work. Palladium was selected to modify Bi2O2CO3. Compared to dispersing palladium nanoparticles on the photocatalyst surface, it was more effective for the method of doping with palladium to shift the energy level within the bandgap of Bi2O2CO3 in improving its photocatalytic activity under visible light. This might be because doping with Pd2+ narrows the band gap of Bi2O2CO3 so as to increase the absorption capacity of visible light photons. Pd nanoparticles on the other hand can absorb photons to produce electrons which are then utilized by Bi2O2CO3 for photocatalytic reactions. Different mechanisms resulted in significant differences, and this work provides solid evidence that ion doping may be a more effective method to improve the photocatalytic activity of Bi2O2CO3.


Fabrication method of a fiber optic electric field sensing probe using polarization maintaining fiber (PMF) is described including a birefringent axes aligning system. The sensing probe is basically a fiber-coupled Fabry-Perot resonator where a thin birefringent wafer of LiTaO3 with an external cavity is mounted onto the end of PMF. An optical wave from a superluminescent laser diode after a linear polarizer parallel to the slow axis of the PMF is made to enter the LiTaO3 crystal with polarization parallel to its extraordinary axis and the reflected optical wave is detected after passing through a polarization analyzer. By measuring a minimum value of a ratio of the reflected optical power at 90° to that of 0° of analyzer, we successfully demonstrated that the angular accuracy of the slow axis of the PMF with respect to the extraordinary axis of the LiTaO3 can be evaluated. Aligning both axes precisely, the electro-optic effect associated with LiTaO3 and polarization is optimized with greater stability. Long term stability of the fabricated PMF sensing probe was enhanced by about 3 times compared to that of a conventional single mode fiber one. As a result of uncertainty analysis, the method we proposed has an overall angular uncertainty of 1° when the used fiber optic components have polarization angle tolerance of 1°.


Farm village business performance may be influenced by village leader's leadership and conflict management between villagers, so the objective of this study is to analyze the relationships among farm village leader's leadership, conflict management between villagers and farm village business performance. The questionnaire was performed for 376 villagers in Jeollabuk-do Province. The collected data was analyzed by structural equation model and Sobel test. The result shows that farm village leader's leadership such as human-relationship ability, management ability, communication skills, and industrial knowledge ability have statistically significant positive effects on the conflict management between villagers. The conflict management between villagers also showed a statistically significant positive effects on the social and economic performance. The farm village leader's leadership such as human-relationship ability, sensibility.awareness ability, management ability, communication skills, industrial knowledge ability showed no statistically significant effects on the social and economic performance. But, they showed a statistically significant effects on the farm village business performance in indirect manner with the mediating effect of the conflict management between villagers. It is worthwhile that in this study, the effect of village leader's leadership on the conflict management between villagers and farm village business performance was verified, and then, it is meaningful to present the role and importance of farm village leader's leadership. ■ keyword :∣Farm Village Leader∣Leadership∣Conflict Management between Villagers∣Farm Village Business Performance∣ 접수일자 : 2019년 12월 31일 수정일자 : 2020년 02월 07일 심사완료일 : 2020년 02월 16일 교신저자 : 정안성, e-mail : email@example.com 농촌마을지도자의 리더역량과 주민 간 갈등관리 및 농촌마을 사업성과 간의 구조적 관계 357


Purpose – This paper aims to analyze job‐satisfaction differences between employees of the hotel industries of two similar tourist destinations: Andalusia (Spain) and the Algarve (Portugal).Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was conducted in the two regions. The population for this study comprised employees of any hotel establishment in these regions. The authors have used stratified random sampling based on the number of hotels in each category and the number of hotel beds these represent. A total of 2,064 usable questionnaires from 165 hotels were returned in Andalusia and 461 from 23 hotels in the Algarve.Findings – Findings from this study show an acceptable level of job satisfaction in both regions, although this is higher among the Andalusian workers, not only in terms of the overall score but also for each of the job facet scores considered. In contrast to previous findings, in this study the effect of wage on job satisfaction has been reported as significant in both regions.Resea...


By force analysis of the grinding ball in ball mill,this paper explained the essence of grinding ball rotation,speed rising to different position,and deduced the theoretical critical revolving speed of the ball mill,which has certain referential meanings for production.The paper calculated the speed of the grinding ball through analyzing mechanical analysis of the ball mill and that including the impacts of slip between flask liner and ball mill and radius of ball mill to ball mill speed.


Based on the theory of the autonomic learning of college English, This paper analyzes some problems existing in the course of English learning, and puts forward some paths for promoting the autonomic learning of college English.


Introducing neptunium into the nuclear fuel cycle has been proposed in the past as a way to impede the diversion or the direct use of plutonium to fabricate a nuclear explosive device. This paper aims to technically analyze the industrial consequences should this proposal be implemented. Two scenarios are considered: 1) adding neptunium to fresh uranium oxide (UOX) fuel before irradiation in a light water reactor; 2) separating neptunium together with plutonium from used UOX fuel and using this combined oxide to fabricate mixed oxide (MOX) fuel before subsequent irradiation in a light water reactor. In both cases, assembly calculations for a pressurized water reactor using fresh fuel doped with neptunium are presented for a wide range of neptunium proportions. Consequences on core and fuel performances and the fuel cycle are analyzed. These are weighed against the potential proliferation resistance benefits of adding neptunium due to the increased quantity of the plutonium isotope {sup 238}Pu in the discharged fuel, or due to the potentially increased detectability through gamma ray emissions of a plutonium-neptunium oxide mixture. Finally, the proliferation risk presented by neptunium itself is discussed. (authors)


In the paper,a novel feature extraction method based on two-stage two-dimensional locality discriminant embedding was proposed and introduced into SAR image target recognition.The samples of SAR images were processed as the form of matrix directly and the features were extracted by two-stage method,where the image matrix was projection transformed from two directions of row and column respectively.Thus,the curse of dimensionality and the small sample size problem were avoided,which always appeared in LDE method where the samples were transformed to vector.Meanwhile,the features could be more discriminatory.Combined with the corresponding image pretreatment process and classification method,two-stage 2DLDE feature extraction was applied in the experiment on MSTAR SAR image data,and the results verified the effectivness and superiority of this method.


In order to realize mass data exchange in vehicle traveling data recorder,this paper introduces USB host technology based on a single chop using vehicle traveling data recorder.


This report illustrates the potential future needs and costs for family planning in Paraguay by providing estimates of what needs to be done and how much it will cost to reach population policies and goals that have been formulated. As a result of a high birth rate and relatively low mortality rate Paraguay has 1 of the most rapid rates of population growth in Latin America with the population size more than doubling betwen 1960 and 1985. For 1976-1978 the fertility rate (TFR) is estimated to be 4.9; for 1980-1985 the crude birth rate was 36 births per 1000. The average annual growth rate for 1980-1985 is 3.0%. At present Paraguay maintains a pronatalist policy providing almost no family planning information or services through public health facilities yet maintains a strong concern for improving health education and nutrition permitting private organizations to provide information in the context of improving quality of life. A contraceptive prevalence survey taken in 1977 indicated that 36% of women 15-49 practiced family planning; contraceptive prevalence rate is estimated at 40.2% for 1985. Oral pills are the major choice of contraceptive followed by the IUD. Due to lack of public sector participation large expanses of rural areas are without access to services. TFR by the year 2000 is projected to be 3.6 which means 54% of women must use contraception. Estimates indicate that in 1985 contraception cost about US$3.4 million and average cost per user per year of US$18.00 costs projected for the year 2000 would be US$6.9 million an increase of 6.7% per year. If the government continues to refrain from providing any of the service other major strategies should be developed to meet the need.


FIELD: medicine. SUBSTANCE: group of inventions refers to medical equipment. An automated oxygen delivery system comprises an patient's blood flow oxygen measuring sensor comprising a pulse oxymeter; a pneumatic sub-system comprising a gas feed connected to an oxygen inlet, an air inlet and a gas-mixture outlet for mixing oxygen and air to form gas mixture having the oxygen concentration delivered to the patient, and for delivering gas mixture to the patient; and a control sub-system connected to the sensor and the pneumatic sub-system comprising an input. A sensor interface is configured to receive the measurement data and the state information related to the sensor measurement data. The state information involves a perfusion index and a signal quality measure. A pneumatic sub-system interface is used to send commands and to receive the pneumatic sub-system data. A processor is connected to the input, the sensor interface and the pneumatic sub-system interface to control the supplied oxygen concentration on the basis of the required oxygen concentration, the measurement data and the state information. There are disclosed alternative versions of the automated system characterised by state information collecting media. EFFECT: inventions provide the safe control of the supplied oxygen amount automatically. 27 cl, 5 dwg


Simple Summary Fusion of exons or introns from two different genes can lead to the formation of chimeric RNAs. Several recent studies have reported that chimeric RNAs promote tumorigenesis and cancer drug resistance. Therefore, chimeric RNAs are crucial for generating phenotypic diversity between cancer cells that drives the adaptive evolution of cancer. Here, we will discuss the significance of chimeric RNAs in generating functional diversity in cancer cells and their potential impact on developing cancer from an evolutionary viewpoint. Abstract Gene fusions can give rise to somatic alterations in cancers. Fusion genes have the potential to create chimeric RNAs, which can generate the phenotypic diversity of cancer cells, and could be associated with novel molecular functions related to cancer cell survival and proliferation. The expression of chimeric RNAs in cancer cells might impact diverse cancer-related functions, including loss of apoptosis and cancer cell plasticity, and promote oncogenesis. Due to their recurrence in cancers and functional association with oncogenic processes, chimeric RNAs are considered biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. Several recent studies demonstrated that chimeric RNAs could lead to the generation of new functionality for the resistance of cancer cells against drug therapy. Therefore, targeting chimeric RNAs in drug resistance cancer could be useful for developing precision medicine. So, understanding the functional impact of chimeric RNAs in cancer cells from an evolutionary perspective will be helpful to elucidate cancer evolution, which could provide a new insight to design more effective therapies for cancer patients in a personalized manner.


Drawbeads are valuable tools to control the material flow in stamping processes. Its accurate design is necessary so that the part can be formed with a minimal, and well-distributed plastic strain, and so that defects such as fractures or wrinkling can be avoided. This paper analyzes the use of a segmented drawbead to improve the results of a stamping process. Simulations, based on the Finite Elements Method, were conducted for a dual-phase 500 steel, 1.2 mm thick blank, formed using no drawbead, uniform drawbeads, and a segmented drawbead. The influence in the results of using different remesh criteria was also evaluated, and the computational time of each approach compared, the use of different criteria on the region of the blank in contact with the drawbead and the region in contact with the die and punch achieved realistic results with relatively less computational time. By adopting a segmented drawbead, it was possible to improve the results of the simulation, reducing wrinkling and fracture, based on the Forming Limit Diagram.


The present invention relates to a blender (2), preferably hand blender, the blender in a blender for a working area (2) (20) mixed or pulverized food. Blender (2) comprises an illumination means for illuminating the working area (20), said illuminating means being integrated in a blender (2). According to the invention, the lighting device is designed to emit an optical pulse signal in a manner to facilitate observation strobe mixing or grinding process. The present invention further relates to a method for operating a blender (2), which has a blender for a work area (20) of the illumination device for illuminating.


TO THEEDITOR:InarecentJournalofClinicalOncologyeditorial, Desta and Flockhart 1 asked a yes-no question about the germline pharmacogeneticsoftamoxifenresponse:"Havewelearnedenough?" They ultimately answer by writing that recommendations regarding genetic testing for CYP2D6 variants must await further data, but the list of open questions preceding this answer did not include the question of whether there is a main effect. We therefore raise this question about the main effect: "Has it been established that tamoxifen is a less effectiveadjuvanttherapyforestrogenreceptor‐positivebreastcancer patients with functionally variant CYP2D6 allele(s) than for those without functionally variant alleles?" Figure 1 depicts the results of the five epidemiologic studies of thisquestion. 2-6 Toexaminethedepartureofthedistributionofthese results from the null (ie, relative risk of 1.0), we first ranked the five relative risks of recurrence from lowest to highest (citations 2 to 6 in ascending order). We then plotted each study's relative risk and its 95%CIagainsttheinversenormalofitsrankpercentile. 7 Thestippled lineshowstheregressionofinverse-varianceweightedlog-relativerisk against the inverse normal of rank percentile. If the accumulated evidenceisarandomsamplefromalognormaldistributionofrelative risks centered on the null, then the relative risks should fall along this line and the line should intersect the x-axis at zero. The results of the accumulated studies fit just such a pattern. Indeed, the inversevariance weighted geometric mean of the relative risks equals 1.04 (95%CI,0.77,1.41).Eachstudyhascertainstrengthsandlimitations, some of which were pointed out by Desta and Flockhart, and consideration of them against one another is of value. Nonetheless, the simplest explanation for the results to date is that they are sampled from an underlying null association. The integer above each interval in Fig 1 shows the number of women in the study (as best we can determine) with a recurrence and with the variant allele(s). Because both recurrence and the variant allele are rare, this number is the primary determinant of the study's precision. Summed over all of the studies, there are only approximately sixty women with both a recurrence and the variant allele(s), about half from studies reporting a protective association and half fromstudiesreportingacausalassociation.Inourview,sixtywomen, evenlydistributedaboutthenull,istoosmallanumbertoconsiderthe association between CYP2D6-variant alleles and tamoxifen effective


This essay attempts to clarify sociology's "commitment" to a modern world based on capitalist development. First, the principal classical theories are examined. They are shown to have risen alongside the challenges confronting society in the mid-19th Century. We are reminded that these theories continue providing models for sociological currents proposed in the 20th Century. Second, sociology's fundamental themes, also created in the atmosphere of that society, are listed - themes that are still basic to the currents developed in the 20 Century. Third, the relationships between sociology and modernity are analysed. It is suggested that, in light of modernity, this discipline expresses dilemmas and perspectives of thought. Finally. it is suggested that sociology can be read as a literary form in which epic creations can be distinguished. Because of its themes and explanations, sociology often resembles an epic of the modern world.


PURPOSE: An encoding and decoding method of structured data and a device thereof are provided to encode each fragment by using a string table, thereby efficiently performing encoding and decoding of the structured data. CONSTITUTION: A fragmentation unit of an encoding device fragments structured data based on hierarchy structure or tree structure(S101). An encoding unit generates encoding fragments by encoding fragments with a data table for the structured data(S103,S105). A data block generation unit generates a data block including the generated encoding fragment and fragment information(S107). [Reference numerals] (AA) Start; (BB) End; (S101) Fragment fragmentation; (S103) Fragment encoding; (S105) Data table of structured data; (S107) Data block generation


Proverb is a folkloric literature style with full of ethnic trait,which is not only the research subject of lexics,but the research aim of grammar as well.In grammar,there are some similarities and differences between Uyghur and Chinese proverbs.In this paper,simple statements,compressed statements and complex statements of Uyghur and Chinese proverbs are studied with statistics and comparative methods.The paper presents that the similarities between Uyghur and Chinese proverbs both have perfect-economic structure and oral-literal style,while the differences between them rest in their different orders of words,in which most of Uyghur and Chinese proverbs are SVO order and SOV order respectively.


This paper,using larger numbers of case analysis,focuses on the learning domain goals in new curriculum of physical education and health.The result shows that it has an important effect for us to know and understand the concepts in new curriculum of physical education and health.


Background and objectives: hyperlipidemia is the hallmark of cardiovascular diseases, namely hypertension, ischemic heart diseases, and strokes. Treatment should be satisfactory to tackle the lipid disorder and maintain the circulatory normal lipid profile. Many factors/cofactors coordinate to maintain lipid levels within normal to avoid subsequent hazards associated with hyperlipidemia. Coenzyme Q10 is a ubiquitous endogenous biomolecule that plays an important biological role in the lipid catabolic pathway. The goal of the study is to define the role of Coenzyme Q10 in hyperlipidemic mice model induced manually. Methods: to do so, a diet based hyperlipidemia state was induced in mice and they were distributed into different groups to conform with our study objectives. A Coenzyme Q10 treated group was compared to the negative control group and the positive control group was used as well. Results: The biochemical and histological outcomes declared that Coenzyme Q10 has important lipidreducing effects which are parallel or even superior to lipid reducing drugs (e.g. Rosuvastatin). Conclusion of the present study addressed the lipid-lowering properties of Coenzyme Q10 in a newly induced hyperlipidemia mouse model bestowing the use of Coenzyme Q10 as add-on adjuvant therapy in a high-risk group or as a monotherapy in a prophylactic group.


Surgical complications are not uncommon after renal transplantation. They should always be in the differential diagnosis of renal graft dysfunction. While ruling out or confirming a surgical cause of graft dysfunction, a sequential approach should be undertaken starting from clinical examination and moving on to more invasive investigations as the clinical picture becomes clearer. Biochemical assay of drain fluid is important. Causes of a collection around/near the graft include abscess, hematoma, urinoma and lymphocele. Treatment of each of them is different.


Abstract This paper is the first of a two-part series based on Bio-Era's report, Genome Synthesis and Design Futures: Implications for the US Economy. The report was sponsored by the US Department of Energy, with additional funding provided by DuPont Corporation and the Berkeley Nanosciences and Nonoengineering Institute.


The screen door system can offer the subway platform with safety,economy,resource-saving and silence.While being limited by the urban space and seeking for the optimal traffic efficiency,the subway station may not be located at the linear part of the rail way,so the figure of subway platform may not be linear,but curved or transitional-curved.Consequently,the design of screen door system must take into account the geometry of rail,door,and platform,which needs taking a lot of measurements.In this paper such installing measurements are analyzed for providing those necessary data to relevant design and construction.


This paper proposes a novel hybrid position estimation strategy based on merging two self-sensing techniques according to the operating speed. High-frequency (HF) signal injection algorithm is deployed for zero and low-speeds, while the Machine Learning (ML) method is adopted for medium and high speeds. The proposed position estimator is intended for the fault-tolerant control of an interior permanent-magnet-synchronous motor (IPMSM) drive that propels an electrical vehicle (EV).


In this study, we aimed to investigate reproductive performance in estrus-induced Zandi ewes treated with equine chorionic gonadotrophin (eCG) injection in combination with prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α)and gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) during non-breeding season. The estrous cycle was synchronized using controlled internal drug release (CIDR) for 12 days. The ewes were randomly assigned to five groups (n=100 in each group). The first group (control) did not receive hormone injection, the second group (eCG) received 400 IU of eCG at the time of CIDR removal, the third group (eCG+PGF2α) received 400 IU of eCG and 1 ml of PGF2α at the time of CIDR removal, the fourth group (eCG+GnRH) received 400 IU of eCG at the time of CIDR removal and 1 ml of GnRH injection on the day of insemination, and the fifth group (eCG+PGF2α+GnRH) received 400 IU of eCG, 1 ml of PGF2α at the time of CIDR removal, and 1 ml of GnRH on the day of insemination. The results showed that the heat response rate was higher in all the groups receiving hormonal injections compared with the control group (P 0.05). In conclusion, use of eCG at the time of CIDR removal and GnRH on the day of insemination increased reproductive performance. Therefore, it can be applied as a strategy for increasing lambing rate in ewes.


Purpose The authors describe F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomographic (FDG PET) imaging features of Riedel's thyroiditis and retroperitoneal fibrosis in a patient with multifocal fibrosclerosis. Materials and Methods A 41-year-old woman in whom Riedel's thyroiditis had been diagnosed 7 months earlier was examined for fatigue, anorexia, and lower back pain, irradiating to the abdomen. Abdominal sonography and computed tomography showed a retroperitoneal mass. A biopsy of this mass showed histopathologic findings of retroperitoneal fibrosis. FDG PET was performed to evaluate the activity of the retroperitoneal fibrosis and to screen for other areas of fibrosclerosis. Results The FDG-PET images showed an intense hypermetabolic abdominal mass surrounding the aorta and increased glucose metabolism in the thyroid. No other sites of abnormal FDG metabolism were noted. These abnormalities disappeared after 4 months of steroid therapy. Conclusions Sites of multifocal fibrosclerosis can be demonstrated by FDG PET, probably as a result of active inflammation involving lymphocytes, plasma cells, and fibroblast proliferation. FDG PET can help to establish the diagnosis of multifocal fibrosclerosis and evaluate the activity and patient response to corticosteroid therapy.


We present a comparison of observations of a solar active region obtained with the Ultraviolet Spectrometer and Polarimeter (UVSP) and the Hard X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (HXIS) on board the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM). The data show many subflares and smaller events during a 9 hr period in which there were no major flares. This activity is associated with areas of complex, evolving magnetic fields. Events substantially smaller than subflares, identified in C IV 1548 A emission (T = 10(exp 5) K), are found to have impulsive counterparts in 3.5-5.5 keV X-ray emission characteristic of T approximately 10(exp 7) K. These 'microflares' are therefore true members of the flare family, reaching temperatures greater than that of the ambient solar corona. Plots of X-ray versus UV emission show that the emission from the smaller microflares is softer than that from the larger microflares and subflares. Distributions of solar flares with energy that are based on hard X-ray fluxes can be corrected using this X-ray/UV relationship. The corrected distributions suggest that microflares play a larger role in coronal heating than was indicated by analysis of the original distributions.


Changes in monocytes and their subsets (CD14hi/CD16neg, CD14hi/CD16pos and CD14lo/CD16pos) have been described in several diseases. The combination of CD14, CD16 and HLA‐DR has been suggested to discriminate monocytes from the CD16pos/HLA‐DRneg NK‐cells and neutrophils but no data exist whether this strategy can be used in situations when monocyte HLA‐DR expression is pathologically reduced. Monocytes and their subsets were concurrently identified through negative (exclusion of CD66bpos neutrophils, CD56pos NKcells, CD19pos B‐cells, and CD3pos T‐cells) and positive gating (inclusion of monocytes by expression of CD14, CD16, and HLA‐DR) strategies on 30 occasions [9 healthy controls (HC) and 21 patients with conditions associated with low monocyte HLA‐DR expression]. Bland‐Altman and Passing and Bablok regression statistics did not demonstrate any significant measurement bias between the two strategies of monocyte identification. Monocyte subset phenotype was then compared in 18 HC and 41 patients with acute liver failure (ALF). Compared with HC, in ALF, the percentage of CD14hi/CD16pos monocytes was higher (7% vs 4%) whilst the percentage of CD14lo/CD16pos was lower (1.9% vs. 7%) (P ≤ 0.001); HLA‐DR and CD86 MFIs on all monocyte subsets were lower, whilst CCR5, CD64, and CD11b MFIs were higher (P < 0.05). The relative expression by monocyte subsets of HLA‐DR, CCR2, CCR5, CX3CR1, and CD11a was similar in ALF patients and HCs. Repeat analysis of an identical antibody‐fluorochrome "backbone" targeting HLA‐DR, CD14, and CD16 was assessed in 189 samples across 5 different experiments. There was excellent agreement in the results obtained using the positive gating strategy (interclass correlation coefficients > 0.8). Monocytes and their subsets can be reliably identified using an antibody‐fluorochrome "backbone" of HLA‐DR, CD14, and CD16. CD16pos monocytes continue to constitutively express HLA‐DR even in conditions where HLA‐DR is pathologically reduced on CD14hi/CD16neg monocytes. Understanding the changes in monocyte pheontype in ALF and similar clinico‐pathological diseases may allow the development of novel biomarkers or therapeutic strategies. © 2012 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry


ABSTRACT Professional literature has indicated the detrimental effect of postpartum depression (PPD) and impaired mother's bond with baby (MBB) on infants throughout their development. The present study aimed to examine whether the associations between caregiving dispositions and both postpartum depression (PPD) and mothers' perception of their bond with baby (MBB) are mediated by maternal self-efficacy, and whether these mediation paths are moderated by marital satisfaction. In this study participated 182 mothers who were in the six months that followed the birth of their child. Results indicated that anxious caregiving predicted both PPD and MBB; however, avoidant caregiving was related only to PPD. Maternal self-efficacy had a salient contribution to both PPD and MBB, and fully mediated the link between anxious caregiving and both PPD and MBB. Marital satisfaction moderated the link between anxious caregiving and MBB. The findings suggest that it may be important when forming interventions focused on enhancing self-efficacy.


The analysis of Voronoi polyhedra for liquid water and hydrogen sulphide, at different temperatures, has been performed by using the molecular configurations generated by computer simulation of the liquids with realistic potential models. Some topological and metric properties of the Voronoi polyhedra have been calculated and their distributions are studied. In addition, the cross correlation between pairs of metric quantities are also investigated. The latter correlations are found to be more relevant for a clear distinction between the two systems examined here. In particular, the cross correlation between the potential energy of a molecule and the volume of the corresponding Voronoi polyhedron makes it clear that the interpretation of the anomalous physical properties of water in terms of local volume has to be revised.


Presumptive taxation is employed primarily when specific groups of taxpayers are hard to tax and administrative resources are scarce. This type of taxation is considered as optimal method of curbing widespread non-compliance without employing excessive government resources. At the same time, it provides taxpayers with a simplified option for tax compliance without requiring full financial transparency.


In the present study,three-year old'Changfu 2'apple trees grafted on dwarfing interstock(M26)were respectively planted with different planting depth in Yangling,combined with the investigation of Fengxiang,Yongshou and Pucheng,Shaanxi Province. Then these trees were used to investigate the effects of the planting depth on root system growth,root hormone,fruit yields and quality.The results showed that,in the treatment with 15 cm planting depth of dwarfing interstock,fine roots( 2 mm)mainly distributed in the soil layer of 0–40 cm,and the number of fine roots was 13.6%–41.5% more than other treatments,total roots number was 18.2%–33.3% more than other treatments,the root dry weight was 11.2%–68.4% of that in other treatments. Moreover,15 cm treatment showed more competitive advantage,i.e.,the quantity of fruit yields,single fruit weight,soluble solid contents,fruit hardness,fruit coloring and the titratable acid. Furthermore,the 15 cm planting depth had highest level of IAA,ZR and GA contents,but the contents of ABA was at the lowest level. the ratio o(fIAA + GA + ZR)/ ABA was at the peak,which helps to stimulate the growth of roots. These results indicate that 15 cm planting depth of dwarfing interstock can promote the growth of root,increase fine and total root numbers so that apple trees obtain more nutrition by root and have good fruit quality.


IN THIS STUDY, we derive alternative linear decision rules for the Federal Reserve and obtain estimates of the parameters of these rules. The basic assumptions are: (1) that the Federal Reserve acts as if it minimizes a quadratic loss function in certain variables and (2) that the Federal Reserve possesses a model of the economy. To obtain the alternative decision rules, we can either (a) hold (1) constant and vary (2), or (b) hold (2) constant and vary (1). For example, given a quadratic loss function, we derive decision rules conditional on differing views of the economic structure. To accomplish this we use the concept of an intermediate financial variable (e.g., free reserves or total reserves). It is assumed that the Federal Reserve acts through this intermediate variable to affect the variables in its loss function. By assuming different intermediate financial variables and different lag structures we obtain alternative models of the economic structure. The assumed loss function is minimized with respect to a policy instrument subject to the alternative models. The resulting functions are linear decision rules-each conditional on an assumed model. The results suggest that, in each model, operations to stabilize financial markets (defensive operations) were dominant. Evidence is offered that the Federal Reserve has, since 1959, responded to the balance-of-payments problem while providing for growth in real income (dynamic operations). A clear choice of "the" intermediate financial variable used by the Federal Reserve in the 1952-65 period cannot be made; several are equally plausible.


To the Editor:

The recently published article by Walkey and colleagues, "Trends in Sepsis and Infection Sources in the United States," reaffirmed the important epidemiological observation that the rate of diagnosis of sepsis is rising more rapidly than the rate of diagnosis of infection (1). The authors attempted to control for secular changes in definition by measuring incidence of hospitalizations with an infection in mechanically ventilated patients, a trend that increased with increasing sepsis diagnosis. The financial incentives that may influence clinical judgments inherent in diagnostic coding of severe sepsis are well described. Additional discussion centered on the possibility that the pathogenesis of sepsis is changing.

A possibility not addressed by the authors is that over the interval 2003–2009, the standard definition of sepsis became more sensitive. The Surviving Sepsis campaign does not prioritize use of arterial blood gas (ABG) over venous blood gas (VBG) lactate, nor does it require measurement of core body temperature to diagnose hypothermia.

A meta-analysis of 10 studies concluded "a venous lactate cannot be used as a proxy for arterial in patients with abnormal lactate values...as the venous lactate becomes abnormal, the true value of arterial is less predictable from the venous lactate" (2). A patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with respiratory failure requiring intubation caused by focal pneumonia, and who has a normal ABG lactate and abnormal VBG lactate, would meet severe sepsis criteria if only the VBG lactate were measured.

In a comparison of tympanic membrane and core temperatures, Haugan and colleagues observed that "a tympanic membrane temperature is on average 0.85°C lower than the rectal temperature with commonly used equipment" (3). This discrepancy between tympanic membrane and core temperature could be greater in a low-output state produced by hypovolemia, or in the presence of pulmonary embolism or congestive heart failure.

Including venous lactate and not requiring core temperature in the diagnosis of severe sepsis will increase the sensitivity and reduce the specificity of the diagnosis of severe sepsis. The impact of more sensitive diagnostic criteria on incidence and mortality of pulmonary embolism has been well described (4). Similar effects are likely in patients diagnosed with a more sensitive definition of sepsis. As a community, we should recognize that "toxicities" are likely associated with increased sepsis diagnosis including increased antibiotic exposure for syndromes not caused by bacteria and anchoring bias that could limit pursuit of alternative diagnoses.


BACKGROUND
Associations have been recently reported between the frequent use of early-term preventive labor induction and improvements in multiple parameters of birth health. We sought to replicate these findings in an Italian hospital.

METHODS
The outcomes of 120 consecutively delivered women who were exposed to the alternative method of care were compared to the outcomes of 159 women who received standard management. The primary and secondary outcomes were group cesarean delivery rate and group adverse outcome index score.

RESULTS
Exposed women had a higher induction rate, a lower cesarean delivery rate (1.7% vs. 43.4%), and a lower group AOI Score (0.2 vs.5.8).

CONCLUSIONS
Exposure to high levels of early term preventive labor induction was associated with a lower group cesarean delivery rate and improvement in several other major birth outcomes. An adequately powered randomized controlled trial is needed to further explore this alternative method of care.


The behavior of the electron spectrum, density of states, and the superconducting transition temperature of systems where the electron−electron interaction is spatially modulated (over distances of the order of the interatomic distance) is studied in the approximation of nearly free electrons. It is shown that the modulation can lead to results very different from those obtained by applying the BCS theory of two-dimensional systems whose Fermi surface is close to the boundary of the reciprocal unit cell (G≃2k F )


Device-free localization (DFL) plays an increasingly important role in many security and military applications. It can realize localization without the requirement of equipping targets with any devices for signal transmitting or receiving. To reduce the number of measurements in DFL, compressive sensing (CS) theory has been applied. By exploiting the sparse nature of location finding problem, the target location vector can be estimated from a few measurements. However, in changing environments, measurements may diverge from those in a fixed dictionary (sensing matrix), and the mismatches between the dictionary and runtime measurements can significantly deteriorate the localization performance of CS-based DFL methods. To address this, we propose a novel dictionary refinement-based DFL method. It adopts the saddle surface model to characterize the shadowing effects caused by targets and parameterizes the dictionary with the shadowing rate of each link as the underlying parameters. Then, the variational expectation-maximization algorithm is adopted to realize joint localization and dictionary refinement. Simulation results show that the proposed approach achieves higher accuracy and robustness compared with the state-of-the-art fixed dictionary DFL methods.


CASE 1: PRACTICING PROCEDURES ON THE NEWLY DECEASED Staff nurses from a particular unit of this pediatric teaching hospital inform their nurse manager that newly deceased patients are being used to teach resuscitation procedures without the knowledge of the parents. This attempt at teaching is apparently occurring on an ad hoc basis; it is not part of an endorsed training sequence in any part of the hospital. Several senior staff physicians in the unit believe that newly deceased patients provide a valuable training opportunity with potential benefit to future patients and at no harm to the deceased. The nurse manager requests a formal review of this practice from the ethics committee.


Acted as the communication terminal equipment, softphone can realize communications between PC to PC and PC to PSTN. Meanwhile, with the development of the next generation network (NGN), softswitch has been widely deployed in network. Based on the facts above, this paper discusses the design and implementation of a softphone based on softswitch framework. Firstly, this paper presents the concept of a softphone and SIP. Secondly, it analyses the function of a softphone and designs the architecture of it. Finally, it introduces an implementation of each module of a softphone, including: main control module, SIP signaling process module and media process module.


DISTAL radial fractures in toy breeds of dog are difficult to treat due to poor vascularity (Welch and others 1997). The mini T-plate is a suitable choice of implant for stabilising unstable distal radial fractures in toy breed dogs, as the distal fragment is very small (Hamilton and Langley-Hobbs 2005). This short communication describes the management of a distal metaphyseal radial fracture in a spitz dog using a mini T-plate developed at the authors' institution. A two-and-a-half-year-old male spitz dog weighing 6 kg was presented to the small animal orthopaedic unit of Madras Veterinary College Hospital with a history of traumatic injury to the right forelimb, and showing signs of pain, swelling and crepitus of the right antebrachium and carpus on palpation. Radiographic examination revealed the presence of an unstable distal metaphyseal fracture of the right radius and ulna (Fig 1). At the time of writing, mini T-plates for veterinary use are not commercially available in India. A 2 mm mini T-plate (316-L stainless steel) with dimensions of 4 mm width x 10 mm horizontal length x 40 mm vertical height, with seven round holes, was devised at the authors' institution in collaboration with a dental implant unit. A prototype was initially designed using the radiograph of the normal contralateral limb, and was applied to a bone model to determine its suitability. Self-tapping screws varying in length from 8 mm to 10 mm were made based on the preoperative radiographic measurements. The dog was anaesthetised and the fracture site was approached by making a craniomedial incision. An arthrotomy was performed and the fracture fragments were exposed and reduced. The mini T-plate was contoured to match the cranial surface of the radius and then secured using 2 mm self-tapping screws. The distal screws were placed first to anchor the plate, and the proximal screws were placed afterwards. The surgical wound was closed routinely. A modified Robert-Jones bandage was applied over the limb, and complete rest was advised.


The present invention relates to a wind power generation apparatus capable of generating power irrespective of the direction of the wind by rotating a wind power generator assembly using a guide blade without using power that corresponds to the direction of the wind. The wind power generation apparatus comprises: the assembly in which wind power generators including a funnel installed horizontally inside a casing to pass the wind and one or more generating means installed in a reducing tube of the funnel are connected in multiple rows and layers; and a vertical pillar which is vertically installed on the ground or on the top of a floating body in case of wind power generation on the sea, wherein the assembly is rotatably fixed with rotating means on both sides of the vertical pillar.


Confirmed the leading role of physical preparation in the structure of the training process of athletes who specialize in run orienteering. It is shown that more skilled orienteriers (I discharge and CMS) had much more significant correlations between indexes of physical preparedness (eight) than less-skilled (III-II discharges) athletes (three). This suggests that the growth of sportsmanship is associated not only with increasing level of physical preparedness, but also its structure.


Industry 5.0 has laid the necessity to relocate the human at the center of the manufacturing cycle, where everything should be designed to ease his/her work. This implies one to redefine the human-robot collaboration, making it not only safe, but also more inclusive for the operator. Nowadays, this goal is viable thanks to the integration of new sensors in the work cell. Coupled with advanced control strategies, they give the robot a better understanding of both the surrounding environment and the human movement, allowing a more organic cooperation. This paper exploits an RGBD camera and Deep Learning algorithms to retrieve the 3D positions of the manipulated objects in the workspace and to infer the most likely future human destinations in a pick and place case study. Merging this information, a proper control logic is defined and tested in a real robotics application, with the final intent of minimizing human-robot collisions during the collaboration and making the process more reliable and efficient.


Oscar is a conversational intelligent tutoring system (CITS) which dynamically predicts and adapts to a student's learning style throughout the tutoring conversation. Oscar aims to mimic a human tutor to improve the effectiveness of the learning experience by leading a natural language tutorial and adapting material to suit an individual's learning style. Prediction of learning style is undertaken through capturing independent variables during the conversation. The variable with the highest value determines the individuals learning style. This paper proposes a new method which uses a fuzzy classification tree to build a fuzzy predictive model using these variables which are captured through natural language dialogue Experiments have been undertaken on two of the learning style dimensions: perception (sensory-intuitive) and understanding (sequential-global). Early results show the model has substantially increased the predictive accuracy of the Oscar CITS and discovered some interesting relationships amongst these variables.


Abstract Among a collection of whole pottery vessels from the Huarmey valley, Peru, is one piece which is almost certainly a master or matrix for manufacturing molds for mold-made pottery. The piece probably dates in the period between Late Tiahuanaco and Inca-Chimú.


The retail sector in Indian has a drastic transformation and rapid growth in this era. The emergence of shopping malls has turned the face of the retail industry in India. Indian metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore etc. have received economic and social contributions from these malls making them one of the most prominent cities in India as well as around the world. Now small cities are also show the same mall culture. Organized retail sector is growing at rapid speed, more jobs are being created, town plans are getting modernized, and thus the consumer behavior too. These are happens due to high-income opportunities, international exposure, changing attitude towards saving and necessities of lifestyle. The shopping behavior of consumer is also changed with the growing choices and trends. Shopping in malls has become a major leisure activity. In this scenario, the current study will help marketers to understand the consumers in terms of their shopping styles and to adapt and improve their marketing campaigns as well as strategies to penetrate more into the market.


7268 Background: Patients (pts) with NSCLC and BM tend to have a poor outcome. However, the evolution of new management approaches to BM may impact the disease outcome. This study evaluated various...


The subject of human rights is today one of the most motivated and significant subjects of public international law. This chapter deals with the norms of the Islamic human rights law constituting an inseparable body of Islamic law since its revelation in AD610. Some of the most basic provisions of Islamic human rights law are analysed in individual sections in order to express the importance of the relevant principles of the law and emphasize that the human rights law exists in Islam, although these rights have been strongly violated by many Islamic States. The creation and development of the principles of human rights in the system of international law are basically the result of the criminal events of the Second World War, especially against the Jewish population of Europe. Under the Islamic international human rights law, all human beings are equal before Islamic jurisdiction.Keywords: Islamic international human rights law; Islamic jurisdiction; public international law; second world war


In this paper, the effects of meteorological factors (including air temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity) on photovoltaic (PV) power forecast using neural network models have been studied. The research is based on PV power data collected at Nanchang, China. Our results showed that prediction results of three neural network models were overall close to the experimental data. It indicated the accuracy of the neural network approach. The time–power curves showed that the prediction errors were relatively large for some time frames, especially at dusk. The SSE/MSE and the coefficients of determination analysis showed that the model including air temperature had the strongest correlation with experimental data than another 2 models including wind speed and relative humidity, which proves that air temperature is an important factor for predicting the output power of PV cells.


The authors work with 22 educators from a variety of disciplines during a 3-year time span to understand what authentic teaching means and to explore how authenticity is manifested in practice. Using a grounded theory approach, the authors interview participants twice per year, observe their classes, and hold focus groups at the end of the project. Data interpretation reveals five dimensions of authenticity: self-awareness, awareness of others, relationships with learners, awareness of context, and a critically reflective approach to practice. Following grounded theory guidelines, the authors develop a model that incorporates the categories generated from the data and generate tentative hypotheses about practice.


We report the emergence of a novel lineage of SARS-CoV-2 in South America, termed C.37. It presents a deletion in the ORF1a gene ({Delta}3675-3677), also found in variants of concern (VOCs) Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, and seven non-synonymous mutations in the Spike gene ({Delta}247-253, G75V, T76I, L452Q, F490S, T859N). Initially reported in Lima, Peru, in late December 2020, it now accounts for almost 100% of Peruvian genomes in April 2021. It is expanding in Chile and Argentina, and there is evidence of onward transmission in Colombia, Mexico, the USA, Germany, and Israel. On June 15, 2021, the World Health Organization designated C.37 as Variant of Interest (VOI) Lambda.


1M.TECH, Mechanical Engineering, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada. NRI Institute of Technology (NRIIT) Agiripalli, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh. 2 M.TECH, Assistant Professor in NRI Institute of Technology (NRIIT) Agiripalli, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh 3M.TECH, Assistant Professor in NRI Institute of Technology (NRIIT) Agiripalli, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh ------------------------------------------------------------------------***------------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT: R1270, also known as CARE 45, is refrigerant grade propylene (propene), a natural, or "not in kind", refrigerant suitable for use in low and medium temperature refrigeration applications. It is non-toxic, with zero ODP (Ozone Depletion Potential) and very low GWP (Global Warming Potential). This paper researches the effect of a test examination completed to decide the exhibition of local icebox when a melted oil gas (LPG) is locally accessible. The performance of a standard VCRS cycle can be obtained by varying evaporator and condensing temperatures over the required range. The effects of evaporator and condensing temperatures on specific and volumic refrigeration effects of a standard VCRS cycle. As shown in the figure, for a given condenser temperature as evaporator temperature increases the specific refrigeration effect increases marginally. It can be seen that for a given evaporator temperature, the refrigeration effect decreases as condenser temperature increases. These trends can be explained easily with the help of the P-h diagram. It can also be observed that the volumetric refrigeration effect increases rapidly with evaporator temperature due to the increase in specific refrigeration effect and decrease in specific volume of refrigerant vapour at the inlet to the compressor. Volumetric refrigeration effect increases marginally as condenser temperature decreases.


This paper addresses the issue of unsupervised texture image classification. This kind of analysis can augment automatic image interpretation and recognition whenever visualized objects surfaces reveal some regular shapes or patterns. The variety of texture models and parameters calculated therein implies the need to select the relevant attributes which allow the best possible texture discrimination. However, it has been observed that the discriminative power of the texture parameters deteriorates if the image dimensions are small relative to the size of a single texture element. In that case, feature vectors corresponding to different textures become less distinguishable. Although this does not constitute a significant impediment to supervised feature selection, the methods which operate in an unsupervised manner and are analyzed in this study perform well only if the images being classified contain a large portion of texture. We illustrate this phenomenon through a series of experiments with natural, Brodatz-album texture images. We also show how to overcome the outlined problem by assessing features saliency using a measure based on the notion of clustering stability.


(Andrea Haring) who serenaded the duke with old torch songs, including Peggy Lee's "Perhaps." Feste (Kevin Kuhlke), alone on the stage at the beginning of the second act, strummed Bach on his guitar. And when Viola (Jocelyn Rose), disguised as the boyish messenger Cesario, told the mourning Olivia (Christianna Nelson) how he/she would woo her, she (Viola) broke into a brief impromptu aria, as much to her own surprise as to Olivia's.


Extreme climate events over a wide Chinese area are investigated with the regional climate model COSMO‐CLM at high resolution (0.125°) through the use of some extreme indicators. Two hindcast simulations, driven respectively by ERA‐Interim reanalysis and the global model CMCC‐CM over the period 1979–2011 have been analysed in order to check the model's ability to represent a subset of climate indicators for precipitation and temperature, as a preliminary step to assess changes regarding extreme weather events expected under greenhouse gas concentration variations. The effort to increase resolution in a regional model has interesting benefits in representing extreme indices, especially in complex orography areas. Results show that the model provides a good representation of the spatial climatology of the indices considered, with high correlation values between the model and observations. Future climate changes concerning extreme events have been investigated, employing the IPCC RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. Projections reveal that temperature indicators are characterized by positive trend values, highlighting an increase in minimum and maximum temperatures over the period 2041–2070, especially over southeast China. Extreme precipitation events are generally projected to increase over the whole region considered, especially under RCP8.5 scenario.


Large-signal analog modulation of strongly injection-locked single and cascaded whistle-geometry semiconductor ring lasers is analyzed. Advantages of strong injection locking for high-fidelity large-signal modulation are confirmed through numerical modeling.


The numerical simulation studied the influence of flow parameters and geometric parameters upon the internal flow field of isolator. The parameters include the back pressure,entrance Mach number,boundary layer thickness,length/height ration and divergence angle. The results show that with the increasing of the back pressure,boundary layer thickness,and the divergence angle,or with the decreasing of length/height ration,shock train will move upwards along the isolator;with the increasing of the back pressure,entrance Mach number,and the divergence angle,the loss of the total pressure will increase.


An iterative factor analysis was performed on the scores obtained from a Motivational Adjective Check List (MACL) (N = 100 undergraduate male students). The initial matrix of significant factors was rotated according to the quartimax, varimax, and equamax procedures. The promax rotation was, then, performed on each of the three orthogonal solutions. Interpretation of factors was based on the promax solution of the equamax rotation. The factors obtained were integrativeness, striving, poise, and independence.


Abstract Objective: To assess the effect of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) on glycaemic control in non-insulin treated patients with type 2 diabetes by means of a systematic review and meta-analysis. Research design and methods: MEDLINE and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register were searched from inception to January 2009 for randomised controlled trials comparing SMBG with non-SMBG or more frequent SMBG with less intensive SMBG. Electronic searches were supplemented by manual searching of reference lists and reviews. The comparison of SMBG with non-SMBG was the primary, the comparison of more frequent SMBG with less intensive SMBG the secondary analysis. Stratified analyses were performed to evaluate modifying factors. Main outcome measures: The primary endpoint was glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), secondary outcomes included fasting glucose and the occurrence of hypoglycaemia. Using random effects models a weighted mean difference (WMD) was calculated for HbA1c and a risk ratio (RR) was calculated for hypoglycaemia. Due to considerable heterogeneity, no combined estimate was computed for fasting glucose. Results: Fifteen trials (3270 patients) were included in the analyses. SMBG was associated with a larger reduction in HbA1c compared with non-SMBG (WMD −0.31%, 95% confidence interval −0.44 to −0.17). The beneficial effect associated with SMBG was not attenuated over longer follow-up. SMBG significantly increased the probability of detecting a hypoglycaemia (RR 2.10, 1.37 to 3.22). More frequent SMBG did not result in significant changes of HbA1c compared with less intensive SMBG (WMD −0.21%, 95% CI −0.57 to 0.15). Conclusions: SMBG compared with non-SMBG is associated with a significantly improved glycaemic control in non-insulin treated patients with type 2 diabetes. The added value of more frequent SMBG compared with less intensive SMBG remains uncertain.


Objective: Drinking water contaminated with toxic metals can be a leading cause of infertility in males. The aim of this study was to determine the levels of some toxic metals and trace elements in drinking water and reproductive hormone levels in males who drink water from these sources in Sabongida-Ora , Edo State, Nigeria.
Material and Methods: A total of 90 subjects consisting of 30 subjects who drink borehole water, 30 subjects who drink water from hand-dug well, and 30 subjects who drink table water, aged between 18 and 45 years, were recruited for this study. Serum reproductive hormones were analyzed using ELISA method. Blood lead, cadmium, serum zinc, and copper were analyzed using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 23.0.
Results: Blood Cd and Pb levels were significantly higher (P<0.05) in hand-dug, borehole and treated water consumers while serum Zn level was significantly lower P<0.05) in hand-dug well and borehole water consumers than treated table water consumers. The serum Cu level was not significantly different between the groups.  The reproductive hormones were significantly lower among hand-dug well and borehole water consumers than treated table water consumers (p<0.05), while PROL(P<0.05) was significantly higher among hand-dug well, borehole water consumers than treated water consumers. Serum PROL correlated positively with Pb (r=0.443; P<0.05) and negatively with serum Zn (r=-0.404; P<0.05) while T correlated positively (r=0.542; P<0.005) with Zn. Similarly, FSH correlated negatively with Pb (r=-0.398; P<0.05) and positively with Zn (r=0.422;P<0.05), while LH correlated inversely with Cd (r=-0.622;P<0.05) and positively with Zn (r=0.745; P<0.05). Expectedly, Cd and Pb were higher while Cu and Zn were lower in hand-dug well water consumers than borehole water consumers.
Conclusion: Water consumption from hand-dug wells may have adverse reproductive sequelae among consumers.


Background: Many countries have implemented their own price policies based on socioeconomic cost of obesity since WHO declared obesity as a worldwide epidemic disease. Korea's obesity rate is accelerating. Methods: This study reviews 19 articles which have analysed the effect of price inflation policy, especially on sugar sweetened beverages. We assessed the effect of price policy on obesity using vote counting method, which is one of the methods of meta-analysis. Results: Based on the analysis of 19 research papers regarding the effectiveness of sugar tax, soda beverage tax and price inflation of fast food, 12 research papers proved that tax increase has positive impact in reducing obesity, while 7 research papers reported neutral effect. There was not a single paper stating that this policy negatively affects obesity reduction. Conclusion: Price policies may prove to be an effective method of intervention for controlling obesity. However, Korea should be cautious in introducing those policies since raising food prices is a sensitive issue in Korea. One major limitation of this study is the fact that not all of the papers concerning this field were included. Furthermore, there are difficulties in drawing a definite conclusion because of different indexes in evaluating policy effectiveness.


BACKGROUND
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with a variety of structural abnormalities in the brain, including several within the para-limbic system. Children with PAE have higher rates of internalizing disorders, including depression and anxiety, which may be related to underlying limbic system anomalies.

METHOD
Children ages 8-16 with PAE (n=41) or without PAE (n= 36) underwent an MRI of the brain and parents completed behavioral questionnaires about their children. Semi-automated procedures (FreeSurfer) were used to derive para-limbic volumes from T1 weighted anatomical images.

RESULTS
There were significant group differences (PAE vs. non-exposed controls) in the caudate, hippocampus, and the putamen; children with PAE had smaller volumes in these regions even after controlling for total intracranial volume. A trend-level association was seen between caudate volume and internalizing symptoms in children with PAE; smaller caudate volumes (presumably reflecting less optimal neurodevelopment) were associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression symptoms in these children.

CONCLUSIONS
Caudate structure may be disproportionately affected by PAE and may be associated with the later development of internalizing symptoms in those affected by PAE.


In situ imidazolate-4,5-diamide-2-olate (L2) linker generation under conventional electrical (CE) heating and microwave (MW)-assisted conditions leads to the formation of the porous three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded molecular building block (MBB) [Cd14(L2)12(O)(OH)2(H2O)4(DMF)4] based network, named as HIF-3. In the MBB a Cd6 octahedron is inscribed in a Cd8 cube. The evacuated materials show good N2, CO2, and H2 gas sorption, in comparison with other H-bonded networks. The desorption branches exhibit a broad hysteresis, suggesting that the materials show flexible behavior during gas uptake. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) shows inherent crystal defects of the materials. PALS indicates that the contribution of mesopores (10 and 14 % for HIF-3-CE and -MW, respectively) due to missing building blocks, makes the frameworks structurally flexible.


In the ICO2P project [1] a monitoring scheme for carbon capture and storage is developed with the aim to use noble gases as signatures for capture products. One approach to capture CO2 is amine-based temperature swing absorption. During such processes there is a potential for depletion of radiogenic noble gases from the fossil source, due to the addition of a gas phase void of radiogenic noble gases. The influence on the noble gas fingerprints of such techniques is investigated by single, analysed samples with full isotope resolution. This is combined with in-line, continuous noble gas measurements with a portable mass spectrometer [2]. This is a new approach that will provide knowledge of the uniqueness and temporal variations of noble gas fingerprints in the product stream from CO2 capture operations. The feasibility of such an on-site measurement system was successfully tested at a CO2 capture testing facility in Norway (TCM). Matching of the data with the reservoir source combusted at that time, forms the basis for setting up geochemical analytical schemes in mixing scenarios. Monitoring data from CO2 product streams are key in designing leakage detection schemes for future storage sites.


We present a general mathematical procedure to handle interactions described by a Morse potential in the presence of a strong harmonic excitation. We account for permanent and field-induced terms and their gradients in the dipole moment function, and we derive analytic formulae for the bond-length change and for the shifted energy eigenvalues of the vibrations, by using the Kramers–Henneberger frame. We apply these results to the important cases of H2 and LiH, driven by a near- or mid-infrared laser in the 1013 W cm−2 intensity range.


The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) produces an open-graded asphalt pavement (F-mix) unlike most open-graded pavements used in the United States. Its 25 mm maximum aggregate size and typical lift thickness of 50 mm is more like the porous asphalt pavements used in Europe. This type of pavement has been in use in Europe since the early 1980's and widely used in Oregon only since the late 1980's. Consequently, maintenance procedures for this type of pavement are still being developed and documented. This paper summarizes progress through March of 1999 on a study of F-mix maintenance needs and techniques being conducted by Oregon State University and ODOT. The report includes information obtained from literature review, site investigations, and a survey of ODOT maintenance supervisors.


After the work of Marmarelis & Naka (1972, 1973) in the catfish retina, systems analysis using stochastic stimuli has had a boom in the seventies (e.g. McCann & Marmarelis, 1975; Eckert & Bishop, 1975; French & Wong, 1977; Lipson, 1975; McCann, 1974; Naka, Marmarelis & Chan, 1975; Spekreijse & Reits, 1982; Trimble & Phillips, 1978; Terzuolo et al. 1982). White-noise analysis was considered to be a general tool for investigating nonlinear systems gaining a maximum of information with a minimum of assumptions about the system. The modification of the original Wiener theory (Wiener, 1958; Cameron & Martin, 1947; McKean, 1972) by Lee & Schetzen (1965) made the theory fairly easy to implement into widely available computers and thus accessible to a larger number of experimenters.


The Infant Mental Health Journal (IMHJ) with Perspectives in Infant Mental Health, have teamed up to feature IMHJ articles that especially draw attention to themes in practice with very young children/families. The aim of this new column is two-fold: to draw the attention of the Perspectives readership to new IMHJ papers; and to collaborate together to disseminate infant mental health content to the field. To this end, the IMHJ editor selects published papers and then invites authors to consider if they would be like to be part of this initiative.


The Study was carried out during the years 2016 -2018 under bore well irrigated condition at Doddamudugere village, Talavady area to study the effect of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) in Mulberry and it is effect on Physico-Chemico properties of Silkworm, V-1 Mulberry variety planted at 3ꞌ * 3ꞌ spacing. Two INM Combination were tested against recommended dose and control, data recorded with three different time interval, Leaf quality assessed via fed to Silkworm. Significantly increased plant growth parameters were recorded in Treatment T3, Replication – R3 (time gap) such as Plant height (171.1cm), Number of shoots plant – 1 (9.7) Number of leaves plant – 1 ( 368.2) and leaf yield plant – 1 (1680.3 g) over T1, T2, control, under INM combined with 3 MT Vermicompost ac – 1 yr – 1 with 12 liters of Panchagavya@3% level ac – 1 yr – 1 Bivoltine CSR2 X CSR4 , Larvae fed with Treatment T3,R3, showed significantly higher in physic-chemico properties of Silkworm, such as Cocoon weight (2g), Shell weight(0.51g), Shell ratio(25.5%) and larval weight (4.4g), pupal weight (1.52g) observed high in T3,R2 than PM * CSR2 X CSR4. In this experiment, both plant growth parameters and bioassay showed superiority of INM practiced over control and recommended package of practices.


The interaction between triphenylphenoxy polyoxyethylenyl polyoxypropy-lene (PEP) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were determinted using surface tension method. The mixed critical micelle concentration (CMC) values determined from the experimental data were used to calculate the molecular interaction parameters according to regular solution theory. The pseudoternary phase behavior of the mixed micromulsion systems containing bifenthri was investigated at different temperatures and salts of different concentration. The system structural transition in this one-phase microemulsion region was carried out using electrical conductivity The results showed strong synergistic interaction in the micelles of (PEP+SDS) systems. The mixed micromulsions systems showed temperature insensitivity. Electrical conductivity confirm that the system undergoes a continuous structural transition of microemulsions from W/O via bicontinuous phase to O/W.


The article focuses on the effect of the slogan 'education through sport' on the pedagogical work in schoolphysical education, and briefs some aspects regarding the pedagogical potentials of youth sport organized in clubs.The author also approaches the difficulties faced by PE in order to be justified as an obligatory school subject,discusses justifications strategies, presents the cul-de-sac of the 'education through sport' motto, and offers a briefoutline of a constructive alternative based on the Gordijn's relational view of movement and its didacticalelaboration. Finally, the author gives an idea of quality Physical Education by presenting a number of characteristictraits, such as the longitudinal planning and the constructivist didactics, and states that providing quality PE willcertainly assure the survival of this discipline as an important aspect of the school curriculum.


1. A method is described for the determination of protein degradation based on measurements of ammonia concentration and gas production (Menke et al. 1979) when a feedingstuff was incubated with rumen fluid in vitro. 2. NH3 liberated during incubation is in part used for microbial protein synthesis. Production of carbon dioxide and methane can be regarded as a measure of energy available for protein synthesis. The ratio, gas production: incorporation of NH3-nitrogen was estimated by addition of starch to the substrate. The response in gas production was linear in the range 0–200 mg starch, when starch was added to 0–200mg feedingstuff dry matter and 30 ml rumen fluid-medium mixture. 3. Linear regression between NH3-N concentration (y, mg) and gas production (x, ml) yielded an intercept (b0) representing that amountof NH3-N which would be released when no fermentable carbohydrates were available and consequently no bacterial protein synthesis took place. 4. The difference between this intercept b0 and NH3-N content in the blank (rumen fluid without substrate added) indicated the amount of NH3 liberated from protein and other N-containing compounds of the feedingstuff incubated. In vitro-degradable N (IVDN) was calculated as a proportion of total N by the equation:


The so-called Special Period through which Cuba went after the breakdown of the USSR and of its block is examined from the viewpoint of the concentration of effort on the policies for scientific and technological development. The conditions which have led to the present shape of those policies are exposed, as well as their limits and the areas in which they have been most successful. The great challenge, according to the author, consists in preserving the conquests of Socialism while promoting the building of a new technological paradigm allowing an active insertion in the global world.


It has been decided, at least tentatively, to mount the arc magnets on pedestals, the motivation being to provide the most rigid support possible. In the same spirit the pedestals should be as short as possible. It has been proposed to shorten the pedestals by about 10 inches by either raising the floor of the tunnels or lowering the beams. A relatively simple means for lowering the beams is considered here.


This tutorial will outline and describe two methods for incorporating the social and professional issues component of the ACM 2001 Computing Curriculum into a computer science degree program. The first method is to develop a new stand-alone course traditionally titled "Computing and Society". The second method is to develop modularized mini-lessons and activities that address the social, professional and ethical issues of computing professionals. These mini-lessons and activities can then be incorporated into existing courses required for Computer Science students.


FIELD: agriculture. SUBSTANCE: device for measuring the emission of greenhouse gases from the soil and plants is formed removable and consists of a cylindrical chamber and a base. The chamber is attached to the base by two horizontal plates with clips. The plates are mounted in the upper part of the base and the lower part of the chamber. At the canter of plates the holes are made with a diameter equal to the diameter of the cylinder. The lower part of the base is provided with slants, while in the upper part of the chamber the lid with a flexible stopper is hermetically mounted. The chamber comprises the means for venting air in it. The chamber may be formed, for example, of an opaque plastic. EFFECT: enhanced functional capabilities of the device. 2 cl, 3 dwg


To build a sense of empowerment among Indigenous youth, particularly First Nations girls, it is of utmost importance that they are included in the development of research and projects that are committed to achieving this goal. Using an empowering process and working closely with the girls of the


The global automotive manufacturing industry's growth in downtime reductio is substantial, valued at $3272.6 billion USD with a 3.01% growth rate.This growth in downtime reduction underscores the industry's commitment to enhancing efficiency, quality, and overall productivity across its diverse range of operations. Downtime in the braking system assembly line can lead to utilization loss or technical availability loss. In this context, many proactive maintenance strategies are explored but there's limited focus on addressing error-prone machines and utilizing Machine Learning for predicting downtime. The objective is to prioritize downtime reduction through error analysis, critical machine identification, and implementing ML-based solutions.
This comprehensive research delved into the significance of minimizing downtime in the braking system final assembly line through meticulous data analysis, visualization techniquesand targeted interventions and then identified key issues and achieved tangible improvements in operational efficiency. The analysis revealed significant findings and then employed the Pareto Principle to identify top downtime machines, illustrating their distribution through a Pareto chart of machine defects. Furthermore, Exceptions and Problem Areas were identified utilizing statistical process controls, offering insights into critical error contributors. Notably, a comprehensive exploration of the most prominent downtime machine was undertaken, evidenced by LCL and UCL charts and a Fishbone Diagram detailing causal relationships. The research leverages real-world data involving dates, machine names, and downtime durations to develop a predictive model that aids in proactively managing production disruptions.
The application of RPN calculations before and after error correction demonstrated a substantial reduction from of 432 to 75, validating the efficacy of the corrective actions. The real-time data was used to build a model that can predict when production machines downtime might happen. This helps us be prepared and manage any possible disruptions in production.The outcome of the project highlights the intrinsic link between downtime reduction and assembly line efficiency, emphasizing the importance of data-driven interventions. This culminated in the resolution of key issues, illustrated by the mitigation of the PCBA Pressin machine and LVDT sensor errors, yielding tangible reductions in downtime and notable productivity improvements. In this direction, exploring AI-driven predictive maintenance holds immense potential for advancing downtime reduction strategies. Leveraging AI algorithms to analyse live data streams from machinery and sensors can enable the detection of patterns indicating imminent failures and can pre-emptively prevent downtime.


With questionnaire and a case study combined for the investigation on the causes of students' psychological crisis,the outcomes can be put as follows.First,the higher the students' grade is,the more inclined to accept the atitude of commit suicide.Secondly,students hold a positive or neutral attitude to euthanasia,suicide and suicide's family members and this is related with students' ever increasing employment pressure,disharmonious relationship or underestimation on the value of life.Next,SCL-90 manifests that gloomy emotion can be universally found among students.Finally,case studies reveal gloom and disharmonious family growth environment are important factors leading to psychological crisis.On the basis of these discoveries,the thesis proposes some intervention measures.


Abstract This research applies a numerical study of topology optimization of laminate composite structures by using a finite element method (FEM). In this methodology, the plies orientation is excluded from the optimization. The geometry-based optimization from frames of a MALE UAV fuselage structure is presented. The minimum strain energy with an optimization constraint of 20% of weight reduction is used in the objective function. Before the primary analysis, benchmark studies of topology optimization without considering orientations from previously published literature are performed. The convergence studies were taken to acquire the appropriate mesh size in the FEM technique, which utilized a four-noded shell element. The finite element analysis and optimization results showed that the structural design of the newly framed composite fuselage MALE UAV meets the structural strength requirements specified in the airworthiness standard STANAG 4671.


The aim of this study is to analyze the swelling and drug release kinetics of composite wound dressing material in different p H buffer solutions, simulating the p H range of wounds. Composite dressing material is prepared by grafting polyacrylic acid-co-acrylamide hydrogel on the cotton fabric using polyethylene glycol as crosslinking agent. Results show maximum equilibrium swelling at pH 7.0. Swelling kinetics at p H 5.5 and p H 7.0 solutions follow first order kinetics model, while that at p H 8.5 solution follow second order kinetics model. The drug release kinetics of composite dressing is investigated at different p H using model drug Bovine serum albumin. Drug release kinetics follows Peppas model and drug is released by Fickian diffusion mechanism. The surface morphology of the composite dressing is analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. The pores of different size are observed at different p H. The drug release from composite dressing is directly influenced by swelling and pore size. These composite wound dressing materials have a great potential to be used as a medicated dressing in wound healing process for non chronic wounds.


We study a problem of non-adiabatic superfluid dynamics of spin-orbit coupled neutral fermions in two spatial dimensions. We focus on the two cases when the out-of-equilibrium conditions are initiated either by a sudden change of the pairing strength or the population imbalance. For the case of zero population imbalance and within the mean-field approximation, the non-adiabatic evolution of the pairing amplitude in a collisionless regime can be found exactly by employing the method of Lax vector construction. Our main finding is that the presence of the spin-orbit coupling significantly reduces the region in the parameter space where a steady state with periodically oscillating pairing amplitude is realized. For the collisionless dynamics initiated by a sudden disappearance of the population imbalance we obtain an exact expression for the steady state pairing amplitude. In the general case of quenches to a state with finite population imbalance we show that there is a region in the steady state phase diagram where at long times the pairing amplitude dynamics is governed by the reduced number of the equations of motion in full analogy with exactly integrable case.


Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions have been implemented in most companies globally, including in Indonesia, because this system has a significant impact on the efficiency, effectiveness of business processes, and improved employee performance. State-owned enterprises in Indonesia have also implemented ERP to enhance employee performance. This study aims to prove that the ERP system can improve employee performance by identifying and testing the most critical factors that influence ERP implementation on employee performance in state-owned enterprises in the manufacturing sector in Indonesia. This study uses a modified model that integrates the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Task Technology Fit (TTF) model adapted to ERP implementation problems. The integration of the two models is carried out because the two models cover two different aspects; TAM focuses more on the technology used rather than the technology's ability to support users in carrying out tasks focused on the TTF model. The model was tested using data collected by distributing questionnaires to ERP users in State-Owned Enterprises. Hypotheses were tested and analyzed using the Partial Least Square(PLS) with the help of SmartPLS 3.0 software. This research's contribution is that the integration model can combine the strengths of the TAM and TTF models to see the performance of employees of State-Owned Enterprises in Indonesia. The results showed that 8 (eight) hypotheses were accepted, and 1 (one) hypothesis was rejected. Finally, these findings can help encourage ERP implementation in other companies in the future because the results of implementing ERP are proven to improve employee performance.


This article provides an update on litigation to address predatory lending. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been leader in the fight against deceptive and abusive mortgage lending and has consistenly waged a vigorous enforcement effort to eradicate predatory practices by lenders. The National Association of Attorney General (NAAG) has also been a major force combating predatory lending through a combined and coordinated effort by state officials. Further, some cases have been settled through a joint effort of the governmental agencies and private plaintiffs' counsel. In the past year, over $784 million in consumer redress was obtained for deceptive lending practices. Following are summaries of the highest profile cases.


A new whale viewing platform could provide a welcome boost in tourism for the seaside town of Coolum after the closure of the Palmer Resort in March.


A Fourier-series model for the responsivity of an optoelectronic mixer (OEM) based on a metal-semiconductor-metal photodiode (MSM-PD) is presented. The model is valid over the full useful range of the MSM dc bias voltage. Using this model, closed-form expressions, in terms of the ordinary Bessel functions, are obtained for the conversion loss, the carrier-to-noise ratio and the noise figure.


Based on operator requirements next generation optical access (NGOA) technology and architecture concepts will be technically and economically assessed. Furthermore network migration aspects starting from today's GPON deployments towards NGOA architectures will be presented.


Introduction. Waste management and poorly degradable polymer packaging are one of the main environmental issues. Biodegradable materials based on a composition of native and modified starches can solve the problem of polymer waste in food packaging. They are environmentally friendly and harmless during decomposition. However, the barrier properties of biodegradable films still remain understudied.
Study objects and methods. The research featured the safety profile of gelatinous confectionery products during storage in biodegradable and polypropylene films. It focused on moisture transfer and microbiota growth in glazed jelly marmalade. The first sample was wrapped in oriented polypropylene film (40 microns), while the other sample was packaged in a biodegradable film (50 microns). A set of experiments was conducted to measure the mass fraction of moisture, water activity, fatty acid composition of the fat fraction of the glaze, active acidity, microbiological parameters, and lipase activity during storage.
Results and discussion. The activity of water during storage remained the same. The specific rate of moisture transfer for the polypropylene film sample was approximately 1.4 times higher than for the biodegradable sample. It equaled 1.16×10–6 g/m2·s for the polypropylene film sample and 0.83×10–6 g/m2·s for the biodegradable sample. The dynamics of growth of QMAFAnM, mold, and yeast was the same in both samples; it did not exceed the regulated indicators of microbiological safety after 12 weeks of storage. The lipase activity of the glazed marmalade samples packed in the polymer film did not increase during storage. Replacing the polypropylene film with a biodegradable film did not significantly affect the safety profile of confectionery products.
Conclusion. Research results confirmed the possibility of using a biodegradable film for packaging confectionery products.


A key class of UAS are VTOL vehicles, which afford the ability to hover and maneuver in tight spaces; often in windy and turbulent conditions. This paper presents the development and flight testing of optimized control laws for the 3DR IRIS+ quadrotor designed to aggressively hold its position in a hover while subjected to wind gusts and turbulence. Performance-based disturbance rejection requirements, such as attitude/position tracking error in turbulence and maximum position displacement for a 1-cosine gust, are directly incorporated into the flight control design and optimization process. A Control Equivalent Turbulence Input (CETI) was then used to simulate turbulence in flight and the optimized control laws allowed for the quadrotor to hold its position to within 3.5 inches, a factor of 13.5 improvement over the stock position hold controller.


The invention discloses a corrosion pretreatment method for anode oxidation deposited zinc/tin crystal nucleus of a middle-high voltage electronic aluminum foil. The corrosion pretreatment method comprises the following steps of: carrying out anodic oxidation treatment on the middle-high voltage electronic aluminum foil in sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, chromic acid or oxalic acid, so as to generate an oxidation film with micropores; then soaking the middle-high voltage electronic aluminum foil which is subjected to the anodic oxidation treatment in an alkali solution dissolved with ZnO or SnO, so as to corrode and thin the porous aluminum oxide film to expose active aluminum at the bottom of the micropores, and carrying out replacement reaction between the active aluminum and a zinc acid radical or a tin acid radical, so as to generate the zinc crystal nucleus or the tin crystal nucleus. In the process that the aluminum foil is corroded, the zinc crystal nucleus or the tin crystal nucleus can guide the aluminum foil to generate micropores, and the possibility that the micropores are combined is reduced; the aluminum foil can be prevented from being corroded and thinned because of an Al2O3 film, and the specific capacitance and the fracture resistance of the middle-high voltage electronic aluminum foil are improved.